The days are long and the years are short

Not necessarily to the right place, but somewhere. I have ten problems to do by Friday, and at this point, they are taking about 2 hours each.  With any luck, the time will get shorter before the end of the week. At the moment, my pay rate for these divided by the time it takes to do them is not enough. I don't tend to use complicated sentence structure, but I am required to do that for these.

I also have online tutoring to prepare (and again for Friday), I really hope that I get both done in a credible way.

About what kind of money-making enterprise I can engage in during the rest of my life.

I am thinking about the PRAXIS exam for certification as a teacher.

Emily is practicing how to add numbers between 1 and 6 in the way we all did, by rolling two six-sided dice. She is getting pretty fast at it now.

I found an interesting article in Spanish today about the hypocrisy of various world leaders in 2009. It has the advantage of the tone of sarcasm and understated wit. So the language is fairly sophisticated.

Various papers for Income Taxes have come already. While I am unlikely to file early, I am feeling optimistic about not needing an extension.

Emily was practicing her Spanish yesterday, by listening to Spanish folk songs. Some of those songs, she is learning in her before-school class (that I have responsibility for).

Or at least a large subset.

I've been listening to Spanish a lot today. 3 15-minute newscasts, 2 11-minute cultural podcasts, and 4 Medical Spanish podcasts.

I emailed about the various obligations I have over the next week (mostly Spanish classes and traffic circle). I did two loads of laundry.

I "helped" Emily sell 3 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies after church.

I still haven't found the papers I am looking for on my desk.

I'm thankful that my mom will call me with turkey cooking questions.
I'm thankful that mrmoosie and I still find the West Wing with the president calling the Butterball Hotline to be funny.
I'm thankful that mrmoosie still loves me and I still love him.
I'm thankful that Emily is learning to read and asks lots of questions about what she reads. I hope that she retains that trait.
I'm thankful that Emily is cautious. I'm thankful that she can be brave after assessing the risks.
I'm thankful for mrmoosie 's well-paying job. In a way, I'm thankful for his work ethic, even though it means lots of late evenings for him.
I'm thankful for my work. It gives me something else to do and allows me to feel I am good at something.
I'm thankful for a 4-day weekend and no planned travel or work. mrmoosie and I need some downtime.
I'm thankful for mrmoosie 's well-paying job. It allows us to throw money at problems around the house, instead of leaving them unsolved or actually learning the right way to fix them ourselves.

We are currently having two pinhole leaks in our pipes repaired. $$$$ bleh.

I want to go hang out at my daughter's school. Or have some tea with someone. I feel the need of human company. Sigh.

Well, I pick up Emily in 2 hours (+10 minutes). Usually, there is a gang of kids and parents on the playground for a half-hour afterwards.

T did a bunch of work on the taxes. Now there is a lot in my court. He may have to help me.

See this report on lead levels and SAT scores. Most of the lead levels discussed were legal under the laws in place, which have been tightened over time.

I believe that this implies that we (as a society) have not reached the full benefit available from restricting lead in the environment and eliminating lead that was applied in an earlier time. And the lead toys problem is going to be with us for a long time, even if no more toys are imported. The old toys have to be gotten out of the stream, not regifted. The paint has to somehow be removed and sequestered, not get into the regular trash stream.

Well, if we are looking for a beneficial place to spend our stimulus, removing old lead paint from buildings will be one of those.

It's cold this morning!! All the ground is frozen through and the plants are hanging over and wilted. It's supposed to be a high of 45 today, so everything will get to thaw and then freeze again tonight. Should be good for breaking up my compost.

T gave me detailed instructions on buying stuff through the apps store. Lets see if I can remember my password.

I paid a whole slew of bills last night (yay, me). Must file, of course.

T wants to go skiing. Oh my! He's really, really good at spending money. :-) Dude, we have a totally depleted cash cushion (we're practically sitting on the springs).

PTA-related. I am putting together a poster (or a triptych) for Russia for International Night. I think that the backings are sold in arts and crafts supply stores, so I don't have to engineer something that will stand up. I wonder if anyone is doing Ukraine, because I have several things that might be appropriate.

I'm going to complain a bit.

I hate home ownership. We have now managed to schedule the contractors for next Monday. The last Monday before Christmas I note. And Christmas is our religious holiday of size all year. Easter is more important spiritually, but a) less happens to/in the actual house, and b) the preparation season is a good deal longer. In fact, so much of Easter is observed in Holy Week or Lent, it's not a point holiday.

We have certainly dug a big hole in our reserve fund for the home improvement. The damage is really just not calculable yet, Although the labor is well-estimated, the materials are not completely selected.

The forecast here is for rain, cloudy, rain, cloudy, rain, cloudy. I am sure that it could alternate for weeks like that.